Vampire’s Kiss was one hell of an experience and after some momentary bewilderment of what I was watching, and in particular Nicolas Cage’s wild performance, I was full-on in with this masterpiece that generated many memes.
Vampire’s Kiss
— MVD Rewind Collection —
(1988)
Genre(s): Comedy, Horror
MVD Visual| R – 103 min. – $24.95 | June 21, 2022
Date Published: 07/13/2022 | Author: The Movieman
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MVD Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 3½/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Living in the big city is enough to drive anyone bats, and the pressure proves too much for Peter Loew (NICOLAS CAGE). At the peak of his career, yet in the depths of despair, his life is in turmoil until he meets Rachel (JENNIFER BEALS), the woman of his dreams. After their night together, Rachel takes more than his heart – she takes his blood too – and from that moment on, Peter Loew believes he is a vampire. What is it about Rachel that makes him feel this way? Is she really a blood-lusting creature of the night? Or just a product of his fevered imagination? Because if it turns out he really is a vampire – then there’s more than just his life at stake!
Quick Hit Review: Vampire’s Kiss is a movie I had certainly heard of and seen plenty of memes but never gotten around to actually watching in full. But after my first viewing that was… an experience. This certainly features one of the more highly entertaining performances by Nicolas Cage who is so over-the-top and wild that it does make the movie, even if his character pre-“vampire” change was a total jackass, as jumbled as it is plot wise, so highly entertaining. This is a case where I was bewildered for the first 10-15 minutes before going full in with the enjoyment of the insanity that this is one of the more memorable viewing experiences in quite a long time. In addition to Cage, it’s never a bad thing seeing Jennifer Beals playing a sexy vampiress although compared to Cage she’s quite tame.
The film was directed by Robert Bierman who only directed two feature films (the other was 1997’s A Merry War) before working on television until 2010 where the trail goes cold for him outside of a couple shorts. I don’t know his talent levels but he definitely gave society easily Nic Cage’s more eye-opening, amazing performance. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2¼/5 |
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This release, part of the MVD Rewind Collection (#39) comes with a matted slip cover. The interior case has a reversible cover artwork and inside is a mini-poster. Audio Commentary with Nicolas Cage and director Robert Bierman which I believe was recorded in 1999/2000 but still well worth listening to as the pair recount their experiences working on the production. Also included is a Photo Gallery, the Original Theatrical Trailer (2:04) and a TV Spot (0:30). |
VIDEO – 4/5 |
| Vampire’s Kiss was previous released by Shout as part of a 2-movie Blu-ray (paired with High Spirits) so now there’s an entire Blu-ray disc just for this classic… Presented in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. Since there’s no mention of anything on the back cover, I assume this transfer was supplied by MGM with no real restoration work done. Outside of the opening credits which did show some dirt in a couple shots, this was an otherwise decent looking picture, detail is sharp and well defined; colors meanwhile were fairly well balanced. |
AUDIO – 3½/5 |
| The disc comes with a PCM 2.0 track that was perfectly acceptable if also unremarkable. Dialogue comes across well enough and even with being a stereo track had some okay depth and no obvious signs of pops or hisses. |
OVERALL – 3¼/5 |
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Overall, Vampire’s Kiss was one hell of an experience and after some momentary bewilderment of what I was watching, and in particular Nicolas Cage’s wild performance, I was full-on in with this masterpiece that generated many memes. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.